Chapter 8

   Before she had married him her official name was Lizzy Olson. Her parents were against her getting
married to him from the start. When her mom first heard they were getting engaged she had said, "What do you
really know about this man Lizzy? You have only known him for a couple of months. There is no possible way you
can know enough about someone in that short of time. You should reconsider or at least put it off. I don't get a
good feeling about him. There is something about him that is off. I can't quit put my finger on it but there is just
something about him I don't like. Can't you at least wait to figure out a little bit more about him before you
actually get married? If there are problems let me know marrying someone never helps to solve the problems, they
only make them worst. You should know that better than anyone from my first marriage Lizzy. All I am asking is for
you to wait and reconsider.” 
    She looked her mom dead in the eye and said, "Mom, don't worry. I know what I am doing. I love him. He
is nothing like dad. I know the type of man he is and I know what I am getting myself into. Don't worry about it. I
know you care and you are trying to help, but things between me and him are just fine. I am not getting any
younger or prettier and I want to have a family. I can't just sit around waiting forever. I have to take the
opportunity now while it is still available." 
 
    Her mother just shook her head and said, “I really hope you know what you are doing for the both of us. I wouldn't
want to have to go to jail for killing the man who would ever dare lay a finger on my Lizzy. You are too special.
Remember that. I love you and if anything goes wrong for a second you just let me know. 
 Unfortunately, she would find out all too soon her mother's intuition was right. Looking back, she had
often wondered if her life would have been better her and Richard never met. She always wondered inside if she
had made the right decision by forcing Richard to marry her instead of accepting his first response and moving on
to someone who could actually give her the relationship and the stability that she was still searching for. Looking
back on those days she remembers just how pathetic she was and how much she allowed herself to give up to
Richard even in the beginning of the relationship before they even got married.  
 

   She was so fixated on the fantasy and the idea of getting married and having a husband and kid that she
lost herself in the process. After Richard died she would rack her mind thinking back to those days and wondering
how she allowed things to get so out of hand in the first place. In a lot of ways she blamed herself for the
condition she had found herself in and there was a gnawing pit of anger and guilt not only at Richard for betraying
her and Rebecca by the years of neglect and abuse but at herself for allowing it to get as bad as it did.  
 She felt that the only positive thing that ever came out of her marriage was Rebecca. After her husband's
death; it would be the only thing that ever made sense any more. It started off well enough. For the first 8 months
of the marriage things seemed to be going well. During the 9th month they were pregnant and by the time they
were going into the end of their 2 year together Rebecca Thomson was born on May 13th 1983. 

     It was a happy occasion among the family and even Lizzy's mother came out to say hi to the new baby.
When she first saw Rebecca she wrapped her up in her arms and gave her a big hug and exclaimed, "Isn't she just
precious. This one is going to be special. I just know it. She is going to be a fighter. Just you wait and see." It was
then that Richard's father walked in the room .As soon as Richard's father came in all of those feelings of loss and hate and anger at his dad but also the tragic loss of his mother came flooding back like a tidal wave of emotion that hit him all at once. He thought he had dealt with a lot of the negative feelings that he had toward his father and the way he treated him and his siblings He thought he had managed to curb or deal with a lot of the behavioral issues that he suffered as a teenager after his mother's death as well.  
 

    When he saw his father again he knew he had been a fool to think he could get rid of his emotions so
easily. He had simply buried them and forgotten about them, but never really dealt with them. Now he was
smacked in the face with the reality of the situation. He was no more over his father's torture and torment as he
was over his own loss of his mother as well. As soon as her grandfather entered she began to cry and to wail as if she already knew just how cruel and mean he was just by feeling him come through the door. Richard stood up and said, "Who invited you. I thought I told you I didn't want you here. I don't want you ruining my life like you ruined the rest of my brothers and sister. Leave before I have someone throw you out."  

    His father just looked at him with that, cutting, evil, menacing glare as he replied, "She is my
granddaughter after all. Have you forgotten that fact? Show some respect and civility. I see you still have that
devil streak in you talking back to your father like that. I should have never come. I just wanted to see her, but I
can already tell I am not welcome. He is evil. He will never amount to anything. Just you watch. He is going to be
a curse on you and your family. Good riddance. At least it is saving me the trouble of having to consider him even
part of my blood. I should have killed you a long time before when I had the chance. Be gone demon child. I
disown you and your child and everyone else that has anything to do with you." Lizzy's mother was just about to
say something before he stormed out and left just as suddenly as he came.  

  After that something in Richard snapped. It was like a piece of his past had been dragged out by his
father's visit. Soon after his father came he began to take up drinking. Before his wife had never seen him drink to
excess. He might have a beer here and there, but he had never been the type of person just to drink to get drunk.
It was actually one of the traits that first drew her to him. It began with a couple of beers here and there until it
got to the point to where he was drinking a 6-pack a day plus buying large bottles of wine and vodka and finishing
them off in a week.